by Jonathan Allen
NEW YORK -New York First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright became at least the seventh senior official in Mayor Eric Adams’ administration to resign as multiple federal corruption investigations have engulfed City Hall in recent weeks.
Her departure on Tuesday comes nearly two weeks after Adams was indicted on charges of accepting bribes and illegal donations to his election campaigns from foreign nationals, including Turkish citizens. Adams, a former New York City police captain, has pleaded not guilty to the five counts in the indictment and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
“I am going to serve my term and run for reelection,” he told reporters at a City Hall press conference on Tuesday. “I would never instruct anyone to do anything illegal or improper. The only instruction I give people all the time is, ‘follow the law.'”
He said he intended to replace many of the aides who have departed, saying there was “no shortage” of people asking to join his administration. Maria Torres-Springer, a deputy mayor for housing and economic development, is being promoted to take over Wright’s post, Adams announced.
Adams is the first New York City mayor to face criminal charges while in office in more than 150 years. A poll released last week by the Marist Institute for Public Opinion found that 69 percent of adult New Yorkers wanted Adams to step down.
Last month, federal investigators raided the home Wright shares with her husband, David Banks, the city’s schools chancellor, and seized their electronic devices.
Banks has also announced his resignation, as has his brother, Philip Banks, the deputy mayor for public safety. Edward Caban resigned as the city’s police commissioner last month after investigators seized his phone and other devices. Wright, Caban and the Banks brothers have not been charged with crimes.
Federal prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s offices in Manhattan and Brooklyn are pursuing at least four separate criminal investigations into corruption in the city’s administration, including the one in which the mayor was indicted.
Also on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan announced the indictment of Mohamed Bahi on charges of witness tampering and destroying evidence in connection with the prosecutors’ investigation of illegal donations to the Adams campaign.
Bahi resigned from his role as Adams’ liaison to the Turkish community on Monday, The City news outlet reported. He could not immediately be reached for comment.
Adams declined to answer specific questions about prosecutors’ accusations that he told Bahi to speak to donors about what they would say to federal investigators, but said he always instructed people to follow the law.
